View: Don’t give parkland for pipeline expansion

Blue Mountain Reservation is a 1,538-acre county-run park in the northwest section of Westchester County. It features miles of trails and offers challenging hikes to the tops of two large peaks, Mt. Spitzenberg and Blue Mountain. The park is used heavily by the public.

There is also a natural gas pipeline running though the park. Spectra Energy is proposing to enlarge this 26-inch diameter pipeline, installed in the 1950s, to a massive 42-inch diameter, high-pressure (850 pounds per square inch) transmission pipeline. The construction would require an expanded work easement of up to 130 feet, 55 feet beyond its present 75-foot right of way.

Enlarging this pipeline and the expansion of the easements will have negative impacts on the park. There will be permanent destruction of trees and habitat for animals. New edges will be opened a few hundred feet into the forest on either side of the expansion, which will allow invasive species to further infiltrate the park.